All Licensing departments rely on the income generated from such licensing which is ring-fenced. Any reduction of such income will result in an increase in licensing fees for the existing licence holders.
Brighton & Hove licensing figures show a decrease in the number of private hire vehicle licences since 2021 which would reflect the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic with an overall decrease of 14.12 per cent since 2013.
These figures are taken from April of each year. In normal circumstances it would be expected that vehicle licences would increase each year, whereas over a ten-year period there has in fact been a reduction. Facts show that this is due to drivers gaining licences in Lewes DC to predominantly work in Brighton & Hove.
WOLVERHAMPTON WOLVERHAMPTON
As shown in the figures produced by the DfT and shown on the previous page, Wolverhampton has also seen a boom in private hire vehicles licensed by the authority. In fact, Wolverhampton is now notoriously known in the taxi/private hire trade as being the main licensing centre in England having issued in excess of 50,000 licences where the vast majority of these drivers are working for Uber hundreds of miles from Wolverhampton Licensing Enforcement.
Is it Lewes DC Licensing Committee’s intention to become the Wolverhampton of the South East?
CONCLUSION CONCLUSION
There is clearly no need to reduce the requirements for the application of gaining a Lewes DC PH driver licence as the concern about the supposed reduction of PH numbers has been proven to be erroneous.
Any reduction of such requirements will only encourage a massive influx of applicants who have no intention of working in Lewes, but of working predominantly outside and beyond the control of Lewes District Council Licensing and Enforcement.
It should be noted that Brighton & Hove has less private hire vehicles than Lewes District Council currently does to date, with Brighton & Hove having 379 PHVs and Lewes DC having 585 PHVs which equates to 42% more.
This is a strange situation but one which is clearly caused by the easier requirements of Lewes DC Licensing Department.
PHTM OCTOBER 2023
It should be noted there is little if any Lewes Licensing Enforcement activity taking place in Brighton & Hove to keep control of the huge number of Lewes DC PH drivers/vehicles predominantly operating there. It is very evident that the Brighton & Hove taxi/private hire trade has to provide all licensing contravention reports to Lewes DC. If this was not provided then Lewes DC would be oblivious to all of those breaches.
Lastly, I invite you to open the Uber app to see how many Uber vehicles are available in Lewes and you will find there are very few - as they’ re all in Brighton & Hove. Additionally, there’s no doubt if the Licensing Committee supports the proposal to water down the new PH driver applicant requirements the city here will be even more swamped with them.
Time will tell whether the LDC Licensing Committee will take any notice of this document. But if it doesn’t then Wolverhampton Council will have competition.
67
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82
